Beautiful instruments, the wood is gorgeous! My daughter plays the flute like an angel, Bruce sings, plays guitar & piano, stepdaughter sings. I am as musically challenged as I am mechanically! I would try to sing to Amanda when she was a baby & she would cry! :?. Sheet music looks like a chicken ran thru ink then on paper to me. BUT I do so enjoy listening. I think violin is my favorite, takes me away, like it's real people communicating a story. Speaking of music, I just got Phantom of the Opera tickets for my daughter & I for her birthday!! :-D She has been whining for the last 6 years that I went & didn't take her, traumatized for life she says! Everytime something goes wrong in her life she says it's cause I didn't take her to phantom..evil child that she is!! :-D :-D Jody

I own 2 banjos: An Ida (my campfire - beatin up banjo) and a very rare (only 500 made) Flatiron Bighorn (made before Gibson bought out Flatiron Mandolin & Banjo Company) which is my stage instrument and the one I practice with at home.My applachain ducimer is of unknown origin.Acoustic guitar is a late 70's Yamaha (I have a classical that matches it too).Got a cheap Rogue Mandolin just for tinkering around with.A dobro of unknown origin

Here's a pic of my daughter holding daddy's dulcimer to start:

And my old band's album cover pic:

Sean Kelly

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"My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste" - Proverbs 24:13

Musically, I'm a bassist at heart, playing professionally for almost 20 years, retiring completely in 1993. I've been trying to get back into it lately; we'll see. But over the years I've collected some other instruments. Some not-very-good pictures, but here's part of my crew:

Some Washburns, Hohner, Taylor, Fender and Gibson. Not included is a Dot I bought a while ago:

The electric bass is my pride and joy, a 1967 EB-3 I bought new (NOS) way back when (I date myself now):

Add in a Czech upright and a Fender/DeArmond Ashbory

I don't have any pictures of the old Harmony tenor banjo or the violin we have. Or the couple of electronic keyboards I midi into a desktop to drive software synthesizers. Right now it seems to be a golden age in hardware and software for quality instruments and recording equipment at reasonable prices.

Thanks konasdad! I love the aesthetics of natural wood too. Indeed, one does not have to be a player to enjoy music! "An ecstasy is a thing that will not go into words; it feels like music, and one cannot tell about music so that another person can get the feeling of it." I often get "goosebumps" and tingles down the spine when listening to a particularly moving piece. 8-) That video was my first ever test of a vid-cam and video processing software (Avid)... sound quality is horrible (it's the vid cam's mics) but thank you for the kind words.

Thx Jody! Sounds as if you have quite the musical family! No matter if you're not as inclined/talented - we all have our own unique blessings. Do you have family jams/sing-alongs, etc? That would be so lovely. :)

Hi Sean, I've not yet tried a replacement/comparison with the FWI (fossilized walrus ivory) on any instruments but I can say the tone on this Batson guitar is phenomenal (it's a very unique design). I have noticed an improvement in tone with bone (replacing ebony & brass) bridge pins though.Cool instrument list and super cute daughter (danger, danger - cute-o-meter pegged in the red!!). Post some mp3s of your tunes! I'm not much of a bluegrass fan but there's almost always common ground between musicians, I've found... I'm thinking Bela Fleck may be that sort between our respective styles.

Bela Fleck is incredible!!! Have you heard the Telluride Sessions with him and a bunch of other super pickers? Very progressive with a slight hillbilly twist, highly recommended. I'm a HUGE fan of all kinds of roots music, anything from bluegrass to zydeco/cajun to scandinavian folk to african-american slave field songs to sea shantys. We try to expose our daughter to as much strange music as possible. It's pretty neat that she can name different groups when listening to Satellite Radio. Traditional bluegrass is what I grew up with but I now lean towards more progressive styles.Dane, I'm looking forward to pickin with you at Brian Bray's party!!!I'll get some pics and mp3's up as soon as I get the time.

Sean Kelly

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"My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste" - Proverbs 24:13